merry christmas!



christmas randomness

A mix of random pictures I've been meaning to share leading up to Christmas.  And here we are, just a few hours from the big day.

My mom came to watch Elliott's Christmas program at school and they had a mean game of Twister going on afterward.

Wrapping, wrapping and more wrapping.  I'm ready to have my table and space back.  I may even pack everything back downstairs tonight!

Nothing says Christmas quite like a Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar.

 

Elliott with lots of other 3rd graders at their Holiday program earlier this month.  I think he was laughing because he had been hit in the head during one of the hand motions.

Finally getting around to getting the past two years of Christmas pictures/cards into the scrapbook.  I thought I was doing really well when this picture was taken.  Amber even helped me when she was here.  I haven't done anything since, so I'm still a year behind.  Oh well.

Sitting with friends at another friend's orchestra Holiday performance.

Does everyone watch the Dawgs play while putting their Christmas tree up or is it just us?

Gertie took her first trip to Illinois for the first Christmas get together of the season.  We didn't want her to keep rolling around, so the boys and I strapped her in.  I'm sure a few heads turned on the way over.

My favorite part of decorating - the tree.  It got a new spot this year, and I really like where it is.

visit with santa

This is the pose I get from Ethan now with Santa, I guess.  This was after a ride on Little Toot last weekend near my mom and dad's house.  At least Elliott looks like he was enjoying it.

christmas music

It's probably no secret that I love Christmas music.  I try to wait until the day after Thanksgiving to start playing it, but I often listen to it in the summer or spring or just whenever I get a craving to hear it.  But I love it this time of year - just makes me happy.  Cause they're pretty much all happy songs, right?  Mostly celebrating the birth of Jesus, and even the ones that are more secular are all about people being nice to each other and a happy ending.  Much like those Hallmark movies that I am glued to this time of year, also :)

I do, however, get tired of hearing the same songs over and over again, so I try to find a few new songs every year.  I haven't even looked for any this year, but I found new ones last year so they're not old to me yet.  I'll share the titles/artists below, but this one by Point of Grace is one of my favorites right now.  I was listening to it the other morning on the way home from radiation and just really like what it says.....

You say come to me, wait no more

I give you all you're asking for

Forget the lies this world has told

I'll wrap your life in linen gold

I'm more than just only

one night that's holy

I'm your star, and I'm your wish

cause I am both the giver and the gift

First of all, I have to say that I have been singing "I'll wrap your life in red and gold" instead of "...linen gold".  Hate when I get the lyrics wrong!  Linen gold never occurred to me.  I'm not even sure I know what that is.

Second of all, I just really like what it says.  We get so excited about Christmas and all that it means.  I often feel just a bit disappointed on December 26th when all of the excitement is over.  The Christmas Eve sevice is over, the presents are open, the food is eaten, the family is visited.  I love everything about Christmas and hate to see the day pass by.  This line in the song is such a good reminder for me

I'm more than just only

one night that's holy

It's about Him.  About celebrating His birth.  But He truly is more than just the excitement of this season.  So so much more!  I love that someone very talented put that into such simple words.

I had started this post a few weeks ago and had intended to post it but never got back to it.  So I apologize for the lateness in the Christmas song suggestions.  Here they are though, in case you want to continue the Christmas music season up to the new year or save them for next year or forget about them.  Just wanted to share some of my new faves.  Again, I have no idea how to link to the iTunes store, but that's where I found them so I'm sure they are still there.

He Has Come for Us (God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen) by Chrystina Lloree Fincher

Album:  North Point Christmas

Everything Changed by Eddie Kirkland

Album:  North Point Christmas

Do You Hear? by James David Carter

Album: North Point Christmas

All Creating Sing (Joy to the World) by Seth Condrey

Album: North Point Christmas (Deluxe Edition)

Christ is Here by Todd Fields

Album: North Point Christmas

The Giver and the Gift by Point of Grace

Album:  Home for the Holidays

 

meet BOB

  Isn't he so cute??  He mysteriously landed on our doorstep this evening.  And even more mysterious is how he knocked on the door to let us know he had arrived!  I can already tell that he is going to be a quick and clever little elf.

 The boys have never asked about the Elf on the Shelf until this year.  They have both been enthralled with their friends' stories of the antics that their elves play and have been asking why we didn't have one.  So they were beyond excited when BOB showed up tonight!  Brian read them the story right away, we tossed around some name ideas, and then they wasted no time registering him as BOB at the North Pole.

He looks so sweet and innocent there in his box.  The boys are so worried that he will not be able to get loose from the ties keeping him in the box tonight.  They wanted to cut them so badly, but we wouldn't let them cause the book said that you can't touch him.  I'm sure that this clever guy will find a way out - we'll see how much mischief he can stir up in the next few days!

let it snow!

First snow of the season this morning.

The boys were excited, thinking that maybe they would get a snow day.

It only flurried, so no such luck for them.

Beautiful huge flakes I had to catch in a photo.

Would love to see this again on Christmas morning!



is it tomorrow yet?

It's been pointed out to me by a few people that the "tomorrow" that I promised in the last post has come and gone - by almost 3 weeks - with no new post.  Not even one single word or picture!  I might have an issue with time management.  Actually it's just that it's really busy around here (sounds familiar at your house, too, I'm sure), and by the time I sit down at night to blog I just don't have the energy to really put my heart into it.  But it's been long enough.

So I'm in my 3rd week of radiation now.  It is truly a piece of cake - especially compared to chemo.  I know that may change a little - the effects are cumulative, so the worst of the fatigue/skin irritations will come more toward the end of the treatment period.  Only in the past couple of days has my skin started looking a little pink and feeling a little tender, but that's really all and really not that bothersome.

The whole radiation experience is interesting, I think.  It's a very exact science with lots of math that I do not understand.  Yet something I think I would enjoy if I understood it.  Everyday, the whole process, from the time I park until the time I get back in the car, takes only about 20 minutes.  I think the majority of that time is usually getting me lined up exactly right on the machine.  The actual treatment is less than 5 minutes.  I really don't mind it.  I enjoy talking to the therapists.  I think the huge machine is actually very fascinating.  And I continue to be amazed at the thickness of the door when going into the room (it's got to be at least 6 inches thick).  Brian calls the room "the bunker".  I guess there is a good reason why everyone leaves the room when they actually start shooting the radiation :)  And because I've had to be in Chesterfield everyday, I have almost all of my Christmas shopping done now.  It really could be so much worse!

When they were doing my CT scan and then also when I went for my first radiation treatment, I remember thinking how different I felt compared to when I went in for surgery over 6 months ago.  Six months ago I was anxious about all that was before me.  The surgery, the anesthesia, the dye insertion and the chemo beyond that.  Now it didn't bother me to be doing any procedures or not know what was going to happen next anymore.  It's odd how you learn to just go with what you're given and trust that God has your back.  It's actually not odd - it's peaceful.

I've gained a lot of energy back.  Just in the past couple of weeks I've started to feel really closer to what "normal" was before chemo had its fun with us.  I can now climb the stairs without feeling like I've just run a marathon, and much to my family's relief I am able to cook, clean and pretty much keep up with the laundry - although I have a feeling they were enjoying everyone else's cooking a whole lot!!  I am so thankful to everyone who helped keep things running around here the past few months, and I am almost just as thankful to be able to do all of those tasks again myself. 

And my hair is growing back!  It's just a little peach fuzz right now, but it's there.  Ethan prayed hard for it to grow back red, but it looks like I'm going to continue being a brunette.  Unfortunately, the hair on my legs is also growing back.  I thought I could at least be rewarded with not having to deal with that anymore, but looks like that answer is "no".  I've also noticed some eyebrows growing in.  I never lost my eyebrows.  They thinned out and new growth stopped, but they were always there.  Now my eyelashes are a different story.  Just two weeks ago we were in Kansas City for a little family getaway and I was counting how many eyelashes I had left (cause that's my form of entertainment these days) and as I touched the ONE I found and started to say "Hey I only have one now!" it fell right out on my finger.  So ZERO is the big fat number of eyelashes I have left now.  And apparently they take the longest to grow back.  I don't mind it except that without them my eyes seem to water more, and eyeliner doesn't stay on very well so I often look really pale and ill.  That's okay, though.  Now I'll just start counting how many are growing back for my winter entertainment. 

The only really prevalent annoying side effect that is lingering around from chemo is the neuropathy in my fingers.  It's annoying.  It's difficult to button anything, certain textures feel horrible on my fingers (unfortunately fabric is one of them, so folding clothes honestly hurts my fingers - and I promise that's not an excuse to get out of doing the laundry), and the cold weather is making it seem worse.  My fingernails continue to bend and peel, also.  But if I have to keep some side effects around, I'll take these over almost any of the others that I have experienced in the past few months!

Okay, hopefully this makes up for the 3 weeks of silence - at the very least my husband has something to read at lunch now :)

radiation

I'll write more tomorrow, but wanted to let you know that radiation begins tomorrow.  It's the pretty typical treatment, from what I understand.  I'll go everyday, Monday - Friday, and it will end the first week in January. 

I know this is short, but I'm tired and want to get some sleep - I promise I'll add more tomorrow (sometime).

thankful 16

Thankful 16 - For a lunch date with my husband!  I have loved Wednesdays for a few years now, because it is Brian's day off every week.  We often use it as a date day so that we don't have to pay a babysitter to watch the boys on a weekend night.  Even if we don't go anywhere and just stay home and mark things off the to-do list, it's so nice to have quiet, alone time.  Love you B!!

Thankful 15

Thankful 15 - For friends that I have made through my kids.  Tonight a friend of Elliott's came by to deliver some goodies that I had ordered from his Boy Scout troop.  I stood out on the driveway and talked with his mom for a long time.  I'm thankful that the boys have good friends and feel that we have been doubly blessed because I've gotten good friendships out of them also!

thankful 14

Thankful 14 - For the ability to go to the gym today.  It had been a few months since the treadmill and I had had a meetup.  I had actually only been there one other time since the beginning of May.  I had high hopes of getting there shortly after chemo ended, but my swollen legs had other plans.  My phone was nice enough to remind me every Monday, Wednesday and Friday that I was supposed to be at the gym:

It felt good to walk.  I am excited to try to run again soon, but for now I'm happy to walk and just get some sort of exercise and feel like things are getting closer to normal again!



thankful 13

Thankful 13 - For wide open spaces.  We love going over to Illinois.  Obviously we love going over there to see our family, but we also love it because there's a sense of peacefulness there for me.  There is quiet there.  There are wide open spaces for all of us - especially for the boys who need that.  Their new favorite activity over there is shooting the BB gun.  They were very excited about this - Mom even saved some more cans for them to shoot at.  And Elliott decided to shoot at some nests (empty) in the tree.  Made me nervous, but Dad assured me it was fine.  It was, and they had a great time!

thankful 12

Thankful 12 - This day was all about extended family.  So grateful that we are able to get together at least once a year.  We started celebrating the holidays a bit early with the Hosseltons this Saturday.



Loved getting to see my nephews.  Hadn't seen them in at least 6 months.  We even spent the night at their house, and the 3 oldest boys had a little slumber party in the living room - with not as much slumbering as I would have liked :)  My boys did make sure Eli had his coat on before they all ventured outside to play at 5:00 AM.  We're not sure if shoes and socks were included :)

Also got to see all of my aunts and uncles, cousins and spouses, and meet precious new babies.

Someone had the idea to remake a photo of "the cousins" from 1989 (I think).  I wish I had the original photo - I'll get it so that you get the full effect :)

thankful 11

Thankful 11 - This was Veteran's Day.  Thankful for anyone who has ever served in the military in any capacity.  Two Vveterans who are very close to our hearts are Brian's dad and my dad.  We were excited that my dad was able to come over for the Veteran's Day program at the boys' school.  Wish that Brian's dad could have been here, also, but we honored him with a poster and a picture in the slide show, also.

thankful 10

Thankful 10 - For Elliott's interest in piano and Rachel's gift of teaching it.  He just started lessons in August, and he really enjoys it!  I know that a lot of that is due to Rachel's enthusiasm and her patience and her talent. 



thankful 9

Thankful 9 - This day I was thankful for a friend's last day of chemo!!  She was just one round behind me, so she has been my chemo buddy since just right after my 2nd round of chemo.  We have the same type of cancer so we were on the same meds, same plan, which meant we have seen each other almost every Wednesday since the middle of July and that we will continue to see each other every 3 weeks until next summer.  I have enjoyed hanging out with her so much, and I think we must talk and laugh so much that a LOT of the other patients think that we're sisters at first!  She has truly been a bright spot in my Wednesdays, and I love that I'll still get to catch up with her every 3 weeks.   Congrats Jamie!!!!

Mom's Apple Crisp



This one is for you Rachel!  Guess where it came from?  Yep, my mom.  Not sure where she got it or if she just knew how to make it from her mom.  I often get recipes from her and from Brian's mom that say things like "bake until done" or "just enough salt" or "a little nutmeg".  I actually love those recipes cause it means that they're really GOOD!  Even though it means a little trial and error on my part to get them just right.  But this one actually had measurements with it AND it's really good - hallelujah!!

Mom's Apple Crisp

4 c. sliced and peeled tart apples (Granny Smith)
1/4 c. orange juice
1 c. sugar
3/4 c. sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
dash of salt
1/2 c. butter

Preheat oven to 375.  Mound apples in buttered 9-inch pie plate or square pan; sprinkle with orange juice.  Combine sugar, flour, spices and salt in a separate bowl.  Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly.  Sprinkle over apples.  Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until apples are tender and topping is crisp.

Halloween 2011

Our Halloween started with Trunk or Treat at church.  This is our second year doing a trunk, and we tied for first place this year!  There were really great trunks there this year, and they inspired us to already start thinking about next year.

Then trick or treating on Halloween.  The boys were sooooooo excited! 

We had Albert Einstein.....

and this fierce ninja roaming around the neighborhood.

Well, not really roaming since Elliott had spent part of the afternoon drawing up this map for the night's journey.  The whole excursion was very well thought out!

I always want to get pictures of all the kids, but it seems like everyone is in a rush once they all come out, and I'm usually in chaos-mode trying to get everything together to get everyone out the door, and I typically only get one or two.  I was lucky to get these this year.  Ethan plays a lot with the girls in the middle.  He races them in their little jeep, they play ball, whatever.  And they're so cute and sweet!  Wish I could've gotten pictures of some of the other kids, too.

Brian walked around with the boys this year.  Amber and I handed out candy (well, she actually handed out most of the candy - I mostly sat and talked).   He wore this ensemble to work that day - wouldn't you love to see your pharmacist in that?!  I think they looked awesome in their costumes!  They came home with tons of candy.  They had walked all of the courts in our area of the neighborhood and had walked up to one side of the front of the neighborhood.  They were pretty tired once they got home!



They each got over 5 lbs of candy!  I know this, because we took most of it to our dentist's office to trade it in for money and they weighed it there.  They were happy to get $5 for it and that the candy went to the troops.  And I am also happy not to have all of that candy calling to me from the pantry :)

Thankful 7 & 8

Thankful #7 - That my doctors are only about 20 minutes away.  Every once in a while I unexpectedly have to drive over there.  I'm thankful to have the flexibility to do that, and I'm thankful that it's not any farther than it is! 

Thankful #8 - For a day at home today.  I'm behind on everything here - laundry, cleaning, paperwork, etc.  I'm thankful for no commitments or appointments most of the day so that I can catch up on some of it.

Thankful 5 & 6

Thankful #5 - For the opportunity as a family to serve others.



Our church collects shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child every year.  The boys each do a box, and then we go to the annual "Packing Party" where many people from our church get together and pack as many boxes as we can with items that have been donated throughout the last few months.  This is the stash of boxes from the Packing Party yesterday.  There were around 170 in all!  We let the boys pick out most of the items that go in their boxes, and we talk about who might get the boxes.  Then they write a little note for whoever opens the box.   I always wish that we could see who actually does receive the boxes that we pack for them.  This year I saw that you can donate online and track your box.  Not sure how that works, but we're going to do it and see what happens. 

I'm thankful for our friend, Toni, who does a great job of organizing this every year - what a job!  And I'm thankful for our friend, Elena, who just a few years ago was a recipient of a shoebox and last year got the priveledge of delivering shoeboxes to children in Uganda.  She had talked to me about some of her experiences before, but today she had the courage to speak about them in front of hundreds of people at church.  Her testimony was so moving, and she is a beautiful inspiration.

Thankful #6 - Thankful today for a cloudy, dreary day.



I typically prefer warm and sunny, but every once in a while I love that we are blessed with a day like this.  It usually makes me want to stay inside and slow down, which we all need sometimes.  It makes me want to curl up with a blanket.  It makes me want to create something, craft, scrapbook, etc.  It makes me want to sip some hot soup.  Today I took advantage of it by editing and tagging photos and catching up a bit on the blog.

(and I think it's funny that the Hibiscus still wants to bloom)

Thankful 4

Thankful #4 - Browsing through pictures that I uploaded today (weren't they supposed to automatically do that with iCloud?  Still trying to figure that out), found this one and was immediately reminded of how much we enjoy where we live. 

Love that we get to experience a definite change of seasons.

Love that many of the coolest things to do here are FREE.

Love that there are really awesome places to explore like Forest Park.

Love that it's small enough to navigate easily yet big enough to attract sporting and cultural events.

Love that I live 2 minutes from Walmart (it's important to me).

Love that we are only a few hours from half of our family (hate that we're 18 hours from the other half).

Love that it's such a big sports town and just a week ago you couldn't go anywhere without talking about the Cardinals and how excited and proud everyone was - seriously such fun!

Love that people are generally really nice and friendly.

So today I'm thankful that we get to live in such a great place.

Thankful 3

Thankful #3 - Today I am thankful for the ladies in my Bible study group, their candidness, their willingness to share, their love for each other, and their ability to laugh together.  For Carmen who lovingly uses her gift to lead the group and is willing to dig even deeper into the study and to share with us her findings.  And for talented people like Beth Moore who share their gifts of teaching and writing to help lead us into a deeper understanding of God's Word.



Thankful #3.5 - Thankful that my husband forgot to grab his leftovers from Kitaro this morning so that I could enjoy them for lunch!  (I don't have a picture cause I've already eaten it all - thanks B - hope you enjoy your Subway!)

Thankful 1&2

In the spirit of Thanksgiving I'm going to try to post something that we are thankful for each day this month.  And wouldn't you know that I'm already behind?

Thankful #1 - Yesterday I was thankful (and still am) for my family. 

Thankful #2 - Today I am thankful that I only had to have Herceptin today, on a day that would have normally been a big chemo day, and can look forward to the weekend knowing that I will be feeling good!

someone's been driving my car

and always leaves talk radio on for me.  Hmmmmmm.....

hello again

Well, I actually sat somewhere besides on the couch this morning.  That couch and I have been good friends for many days now, but I think it's time we have some time away from each other.  I actually sat down at the desk and saw this notebook in front of me and was surprised at how long ago it seemed that I had written these lists. 

It was really only last week.  Doesn't seem like it to me.  I had big plans for getting lots of things done before chemo last week, huh?  I will say I did finish the Thursday list (the box on the left) and made the royal icing (see the post below for that mess) and everyone had clothes to wear (until today when both Brian and Ethan apparently wanted to wear pants to go out of the house - hmmm).

So what about the last week?  I won't bore you with all the specific symptoms and ailments, although I could because I wrote everything down these past two cycles.  I know that in a few weeks I'll be saying that chemo wasn't all that bad.  The mind forgets things like that.  Or at least mine does.  But I wanted to look back at this and remember what life was really like for us that week after chemo.  Definitely don't want to relive it, but want to see how far we've come and be thankful.

Anyway, just the shorter version for you all.  The nasty taste in my mouth and the fatigue started earlier than usual last Thursday.  Just ask Rachel, whose couch I fell asleep on during Elliott's piano lesson on Thursday!  This was Brian's weekend to work.  I thought I could do this one on my own and not need anyone here to help out.  Thankfully, I changed my mind almost last minute, and Amber came down for the weekend.  No way that I could have done it on my own!

Saturday brought on an extremely sore throat.  Thought some vanilla chai tea might help.

It did for a while.  Thankful for that.  The neuropathy in my fingertips and tongue started getting worse.  And a bit of muscle aches in my neck from the Neulasta - nothing like the first round.  It was all bearable.

By Sunday I was getting a bit tired of this view.

That's when the nausea started.  Again, earlier than before.  Kept praying that if the symptoms were coming on earlier, then they would disappear sooner.  Not sure that's what God had in mind.  I have 3 different types of anti-nausea medicines.  This was the first time that I had taken all 3 in one day.  I honestly can't remember now if they really helped.  I know the last one made me kind of loopy, so maybe it at least took my mind off of it :)  I also lost my appetite on Sunday.  Had a few bites of oatmeal on Sunday morning and I think that was about the last real food my mouth saw for the next 4 days.

Monday and Tuesday were definitely spent on the couch.  They can be summed up like this:  nausea and fatigue.  I couldn't eat or drink anything.  I would try and whatever it was usually came back up.  You stop trying after a while.

But our friends made sure that the rest of my family was well-fed.

I watched them eat dinner from the couch.  It was comforting to know that they were being taken care of.  It was fun to listen to their conversations.  It was a bright spot for me in the week.

Well, apparently my body likes to be fed and hydrated. 

Apparently it doesn't react well to not having either food or drink for periods of time. 

Yesterday was my day to get the Herceptin, and honestly it was a physical struggle just to get to the doctor's office.  Brian and I joked as I was leaning against the wall in the elevator that I might need a wheelchair, but it really wasn't all that far from the truth.  I had no energy and it took all I had to walk just a few feet.  We made it though.  But I don't think the look (or color) on my face convinced anyone that I was feeling like myself.  After taking my blood pressure (96/60) and my weight (lower than they liked also), the girls in the office treated me to 4 extra bags of fluid.  Two of which were sugar water.  Brian told them thank you for giving me the sugar water.  I didn't think that was very nice of him.  But I did think it was very nice of them.  I'm guessing that they probably kept me from having a suite down the hall for a night.  Not sure, just a guess.  But I know that I felt way better than I did when I came in that morning.  The nausea still came back in the afternoon and I still spent most of my time on the couch, but I didn't feel nearly as energy-drained as just a few hours before.

So last night I tried half of a scoop of ice cream.  It was incredibly sweet.  Never thought I'd say that about ice cream, but there's something about all of this that has made me overly sensitive to sugar.  It stayed down - yay!  This morning I was really adventurous and tried a few little pieces of a really soft biscuit smothered in gravy.  Could tolerate that too!  Praise God! 

I really feel like we're on the easier side now.  I know we still have a few bumpy days ahead, but the worst is behind us.  I still get tired doing little things and can't do as much as I normally would in a day, but that fatigue has been getting accumulatively worse in the past few cycles and I'm sure it will take a while to get back to "normal".  Just grateful for the little everyday baby steps, and everyone who makes them happen!

the big day

So we dropped the boys off at school and headed straight to the donut shoppe this morning (Heaven Scent if you live near me and are dying to know).  I took my time picking out the donuts cause we didn't have to be at the office until 9:30 this week.  We ended up with a box of glazed and a variety box as well as chocolate covered strawberries for the staff.  Carried them to the car and got settled so they would be safe on the drive into Chesterfield and were on our way.  We chatted about our assignment from Dr. P.  Decided we would plan to go to Chicago for a weekend in December.  Glad to have that assignment finished and looking forward to actually following through with it.

We parked in our usual spot and carefully balanced our boxes of goodies as we walked toward the entrance.  I walked in first and saw out of the corner of my eye that were several people standing inside the door and they were holding a banner....with my picture on it....that came from my garage....that was made for the walk that we did a few weeks ago.  I was so confused as to why someone had that banner....duh!  Then I realized exactlly who was standing there surrounding the banner.

Somehow Brian was able to keep this surprise a huge secret to me, and these wonderful people took time out of their busy early morning to surprise me and celebrate my last big chemo day with us!  I can't tell you how much I love them.  Each of them has been a huge support in many different ways.  All of them have shown us Christ's love many many times. 

There were tears on my part, of course, as I hugged each of them.  I am so thankful to Joe for praying for us before we had to leave them and go upstairs to begin the treatment.  Love this picture of friends surrounding me as we all shed tears during his prayer (thank you Rachel for capturing this).

 I wanted to take all of them upstairs with us to spend the whole day with us.  That would have been so much fun!!!  We love you guys and cannot thank you enough for being there today for us.

Once we got to the office I was so excited after the big surprise that it was nearly impossible to be sad today.  I thought I would be, knowing that I might not see some of these ladies again, as they may not be on the same 3 week cycle as I will be on anymore.  But I just really enjoyed so much this time with them.  There were two new people in the room today.  One man, one woman.  I often wonder if we ladies scare the men sometimes.  There are not as many of them in our little beauty-shop-like chat room, but I think they hold their own pretty well and I always enjoy our conversations with them.  The woman that was new today said she guessed she would be taking my place now and asked if she would be able to fill my shoes.  Oh yes, that will definitely not be difficult!  She was very sweet and I look forward to getting to know her also.

I'm hoping the donuts stay fresh for tomorrow.  I think by the time we got there and got out of our office visit and actually into the treatment room that it was getting closer to lunch time but hopefully everyone enjoyed them anyway.  They were definitely better than the cookies would have been :)

So Dr. P did not ask us about our assignment.  Maybe he's waiting for the follow-up when he releases me fully from chemo.  I'm glad we have an answer for him and that it's an answer that we really like and are looking forward to.

We were able to get pictures with almost all of the friends that I had met in the treatment room and all of the staff except for one.  You know how I love pictures.  I typically like to be behind the camera, but I allowed Brian that role today and he did a fabulous job.  I even found out that one of my nurses has a Nikon, too.  I'm going to have to chat with her about that.  I love photography talk.  Always learn so much from others.

And a very special treat was that one of the nurses that has been on maternity leave came in with her little guy today.  He is adorable!!  Made the day even better to get to see her and the baby.

Then we got home and I took a little nap (I ended up not being able to fall asleep until 5:30 this morning, which meant a whole hour of sleep last night - I was exhausted this afternoon).  The doorbell rang twice.  The first was the UPS man bringing us a box of goodies from my mom and dad.  Then it was a delivery of flowers from my Apple Tree Academy girls

Aren't they bright and beautiful?  I guess I was still a little groggy from my nap, because I totally dropped and broke the vase and the flowers and water went everywhere :(  Sorry girls!  Brian and I fixed them up into another vase and they are making our kitchen table beautiful now.  Thank you for remembering us today!

Great day.  Great end to a chapter in the journey.  Great beginning to the next chapter.

the last one

The last one.  The last one.  The last one!

I'm so looking forward to tomorrow. 

Seemed like this day would never come.

Now that it has, I have mixed feelings about it, though. 

Definitely happy to celebrate that God has carried us through this part of our journey, comparatively unscathed.

Definitely happy that He has shown us so many blessings that we would not have been able to see had He not sent us on this journey.

Definitely happy that this is the last time I will have to experience the now way too familiar side effects.

Definitely happy that routines will start getting back to normal - well, closer to normal anyway.

Definitely happy that my hair will start growing back.

Definitely happy, definitely, definitely happy for my mouth to get back to normal and actually taste everything again.

Definitely sad that my time with a lot of these ladies and gents in the chemo room is coming to an end.

Definitely sad that I will not get to chat with my nurses every week anymore.

Definitely sad not to meet up with with my doctor every three weeks, feeling comforted that he has an answer for all of our questions and concerns - and he has interesting stories too.

Definitely sad that I will not get to laugh and listen to all kinds of stories with these new friends.

Definitely sad that I won't get the weekly encouragement that I've become accustomed to.

Definitely sad not to keep up with them as much, with their lives, their health.

It will be hard to leave knowing I may not see some of these friends again.  Super glad for the time I've had with them.

And one of my friends here across the river is obviously already ready to celebrate....

Found these on my front porch this afternoon as I went to get the boys from school.  I've tried to find out who it was from with no luck yet.  You were super sneaky and quiet!!  And I love the surprise of it - thank you to whoever you are!

It's 11:30.  I forgot to take the Dex (steroids) until about 7 tonight.  So I still have lots of energy.  The good news is that I can get lots of blog posts written and watch American Pickers at the same time all by myself cause everyone else in the house is on the norma,l non-steroid routine, and have gone to bed.  I love that my phone keeps chiming, telling me that I am already getting FB messages and texts from awesome friends, wishing me well for tomorrow, celebrating the end of this part of recovery.  I will say again and again that the fact that I've realized how much and how many people truly care about my family and I has been worth all the yucky stuff that has come with this journey.  Forever grateful.

I have my feet propped up.  I've been on them all day and they let me know that they are done with the vertical stance for a while.  I was on them for good reason.  Trying to make cookies for tomorrow.  I had tried and tried to come up with something creative to share with everyone at the doctor's office to celebrate the last big chemo treatment.  I finally settled on round sugar cookies with light pink icing and a brighter pink ribbon in the middle.  Brian came up with the idea to put them in those cellophane bags and tie a little card to each one.  He requested the Andes Mint cookies, but I thought those weren't special enough (remember this, cause if it were a movie or book, this would be foreshadowing).  So I spent most of the morning and afternoon cutting out cookies and baking them.  They looked like this, taking over the kitchen table:

 I taste tested one not long after it was out of the oven.  Oh yum!  I think all sugar cookies should be served warm.

So late this afternoon I decided to go ahead and start icing them.  I will preface this with the fact that I watched a LOT of Food Network this past chemo cycle.  To the point that I thought I could pretty much do anything Paula Deen or Ina Garten could do.  It was SO easy!  I knew I would be a pro in the kitchen as soon as I could get up off the couch for any length of time.  I was also convinced that I needed some new tools and cookware, but my budget convinced me otherwise.  So I watched Ina (aka Barefoot Contessa) decorate these sugar cookies the right way - so that the icing didn't run off the cookie.  I remembered everything she said (or so I thought) and printed the icing recipe off her webpage so that I could duplicate her work exactly.

And this is how they turned out.

Okay, a little part of me knew it would most likely turn out like this.  But I thought after all my time with the barefoot lady that I could conquer it.  Wrong.  And my legs were telling me that they were not going to cooperate for me to try to perfect it.  The perfecting would have to be accomplished later.  There was no way I could put these in a bag as a gift, so the creative celebration gift is now going to be donuts from our favorite donut place up the street (well, a few streets).  They are awesome donuts that we'll be glad to share.  Just disappointed that the original idea didn't work out.  Perhaps I should have listened to Brian cause there would be Andes Mint cookies in those special bags with the pretty ribbon and cute card right now.  Oh well.

I'm just excited to see everyone tomorrow and let them know how much we enjoy and appreciate them.  And to be done with chemo!!  Done.  Finished.  Finito.  Finale.  On to the next big thing :)

Well, except for one thing.  We've had an assignment from our doctor for a few weeks now.  To decide what we are going to do to celebrate and tell him what it is.  Seemed like we had a lot of time, yet here we are, the night before, still undecided.  I'm feeling some pressure to make sure it's really awesome.  Hate that kind of pressure.  Yet know that he's right.  If we don't decide and commit to something, time will go by and it will be forgotten.  I would love to take a trip, but I think that will be a long-term goal.  I'm thinking eating at a really great restaurant after my taste fully comes back (can you tell I really miss food?).  All I know is that we'd better come up with something!!

I'll be thinking of you all tomorrow (well, today now since it's 12:20am).

busy days.....I mean fun days

I was talking to Amber today, telling her what we had been doing the past few days and couldn't believe how busy we had been.  But it's a good busy.  Maybe busy isn't the best word.  Maybe I should say how much fun we had been having, instead.

I have a standing Friday morning "date" with Nyla.  We had let "busyness" take over and had not been making it a priority to see each other and catch up and decided to do something about it.  We don't get to do it every week, but we do make it a priority.  This Friday we spent almost the whole day together - unheard of!  It was really because we both had to make a Walmart run before getting together and kept seeing each other in almost every aisle.  I obviously spend way too much time in that store cause I was able to point some things out to her as if I got paid to be there :)  She brought pumpkin muffies over to share - yum.  And then we talked so much that we forgot to eat lunch.  I made up for it later that night.

We hosted a youth team meeting for church at our house that night.  We had soups, sandwiches, salads, breads, desserts.  I sampled it all.  Told you I made up for missing lunch :)  It was a great meeting.  I love all the people that were there and their heart for the teens and preteens.  I also love that our kids love playing together.  My prayer is that they continue to grow to be great friends and will be great influences and Christian havens for each other if that makes sense.  I also love that some of them have older children and are willing to share their parenting experiences with us.  Great night!

Then Saturday morning was soccer time for Ethan.  We decided to eat breakfast at McDonald's on the way (I had already had a bowl of cereal, but an egg and cheese biscuit was suddenly calling out to me).  He scored a goal at the game, but I missed it cause I left at half time to go to a fun baby shower for a new friend, our new worship minister's wife.  It was a brunch, so I ate my 3rd breakfast there.  It's okay cause I won't eat anything at all next week.  Fun to see all the precious (that's for you, Molly) baby things.  Miss having a little one at home.

After the baby shower, we started getting things ready for Ethan's birthday party.  There were about 15 kids here.  I was a little nervous about being able to keep them all occupied in case some of them really weren't into playing baseball.  It all went great though, and the all were pretty content to play baseball.  And eat snacks :)

I really don't remember much of the evening.  I was exhausted.  I know I fell asleep around 7, much to Brian's amazement since Georgia was playing.  I tried to stay awake.  Just needed a little catnap to get me through to the normal bedtime.  And Georgia won, so all was good at our house for the rest of the night!

Made it to early service at church the next morning.  I got to help in the younger 2 year olds class during second service.  It had been a long time since I had been in the nursery classes.  It was so much fun to hang out with them!

Then a friend asked the boys over for lunch and swimming for the afternoon.  Yes, it was warm enough to swim....outside!  The boys had a blast!  And Brian and I got a quiet lunch on the lake, followed by a long afternoon nap.  It was awesome.  Thank you Lori for giving us some time to reconnect.

Picked up the kids, made a quick trip to Dierbergs for our food contribution to small group, then off to small group.  I've loved each small group we've been involved with.  I like changing things up periodically.  I love the friends that we've met in group and the ones that we're getting to know better.  And their adorable kids!  And the discussion that happens every Sunday evening.  And that Lisa made peanut buster parfait ice cream cake to celebrate fall birthdays and my last week of treatment.  Love how she is always celebrating with us.  Good stuff.

Monday was back to school and work and running errands for me.  One of the errands was retrieving Brian's Bible and Sunday School binder and Elliott's piano books from church.  This has been my favorite errand the past two weeks cause it gives me an excuse to get up there and see everyone.  I chatted with Sandy and Victoria for a while and then made it on to ATA.  Unexpectedly sat with Kim and Nyla and their new friend Shelley while they ate lunch.  Good to catch up with them.  They always make me laugh.

Today was full of baking.  Cookies.  At dinner I was wishing I had made apple crisp or pumpkin pie instead of the cookies.  That's the plan in a couple of weeks.  Can't let fall get away with out making both of these.

Tomorrow is chemo day.  That's a whole post of its own.  I'm pretty sure the fun will not start dwindling until Friday night.  Grateful for the fun!

new obsession

Ethan got Beyblades for his birthday from some friends.  This is our first experience with them, and they are definitely a hit at our house!  The boys played with them for probably 4 hours Saturday afternoon/evening.  I love that Ethan shares so willingly most of the time and that they play together so well most of the time.  This was one of those times, and it was so nice to watch them have so much fun together!

These will be especially great for a couple of rainy days that are supposed to be coming up in the next few days.